How shall I paint in words thine image fair,
Set in a background of red-winged light,
Glinting through portieres of soft foliage there,
Gold-flecked ere fading into deepening night?
List to the music of cascades which pour
Their liquid silver tribute down the steep
To moss-clad boulders, where it bubbles o’er,
And fronded ferns in verdurous beauty peep.
Breathless—I wait near thy pellucid stream
To view some woodland nymph with flashing feet
And brow, flower-bound for this alluring dream—
A witching Flora in this cool retreat.
Pensive I grow until the bell-bird’s note—
Organ-like, pealing in its grand solemnity—
Brings haunting memories, as the deep tones float,
Of vanished hours—lost chords of melody.
Crowned in magnificence is thy majestic head,
Queenly thy royal robe of purple grace,
With tender nuances o’er dewy verdure spread,
Where the Pacific’s jasper waves embrace.
Whether in winnowed raiment of the crystal dawn,
Or golden mantle of the sun’s rich ore,
Or jewelled scarf star studded round thee worn,
Thy smiles or tears but charm me more and more.
Farewell, thy stately beauty! Stay—a thought
Hath touched the deep recesses of my soul—
Thou standest, thou Colossus, tempest-wrought,
A Beacon on Time’s sea to mark a shoal!
DREAMS.
I dream of thee when morn is nigh
And Eos, incense laden,
Through rosy portals of the sky,
Chaseth the white mist maiden.
I dream when falls the tender night,
And walks the pale queen moon,
And peeping stars with eyes so bright
Whisper “She cometh soon.”
I watch them in the fragrant gloom
Hanging so pure and high,
For they are woven in my dream,
And gleam all silently.
Beloved! As a budding rose
With petals just unfolding,
My passion would thy heart unclose
A flower of love’s own moulding.
And oft in slumber wrapped profound
I see thy lashes wet,
And know thy thoughts with mine are bound,
And thou dost not forget.
My dreams I cherish, and thou must
By this, my only token,
Know that my love, till I am dust,
Shall e’er remain unbroken.
And when that “Light that never was”
On earth or sky or sea
Shall break o’er me, ’twill be because
God led me up through thee.